His Feet and His Mouth

“Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and watched him; I am like a green fir tree. Your fruit is found from Me.” (Hosea 14:8)

There is so much history in this one verse. A quick review:

First, Ephraim was Joseph’s younger son who was doubly blessed by Joseph’s father, Jacob. Ephraim becomes a big tribe. At the first census, the tribe had 40,500 men. (Numbers 1:32,33) The tribe of Ephraim settled in the northern part of Israel which eventually became the nation of Israel when the kingdom split. They were notoriously idolatrous.

Hosea the prophet was sent to Israel to illustrate their wantonness. God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute who is unfaithful to him. This illustrated the kingdom’s unfaithfulness to the Lord Who had blessed them. In this chapter of Hosea, the Lord makes a plea for them to return to God. In this verse Hosea writes what Ephraim would say if he returned to the Lord. “O Israel, return to Jehovah your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may repay with the calves of our lips.” (Hosea 14:1-2) Hosea’s writing continues in this sense to the end. Hosea writes what Ephraim would say if he’d return to the Lord.

Ephraim would have abandoned the idols and seen that they were useless. We know that they don’t and Israel is taken captive by the Babylonians. The Lord, ever merciful would have forgiven them and accepted their repentance. “I have heard him and watched him...” Then Ephraim could have said, “ I am like a green fir tree...” A fir tree was symbolic of strength, health, prosperity and fruitfulness. God’s response would have been “Your fruit is found from Me.” In other words they would have been dependent on the Lord for life, breath and prosperity. Their reward would have been from the Lord. But they are lost and unable to understand or obey God.

That is the condition of the sinner. They are helpless against sin and darkness. They are blinded to the Truth found in Jesus. It’s a spiritual condition and no persuasion can make them understand the Gospel. Taking our authority and binding the devil is one thing we can do. “Truly I say to you, Whatever you shall bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven; and whatever you shall loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven.”(Matthew 18:18) We can pray that God will open their eyes and ears of understanding so that when they hear the Gospel, they can understand and turn to God. When Jesus stopped Saul from his mission to Damascus He told him, “But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of what you saw, and in what I shall appear to you; delivering you from the people and the nations, to whom I now send you in order to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:16-18) Sinners cannot understand the things of God. That should not frustrate us but give us wisdom when witnessing to know that unless God opens their eyes and ears of understanding, we are talking to the wind. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Corinthians 2:14) It is the Spirit of God Who gives understanding of spiritual things. Isaiah proclaimed about Jesus, “And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 11:2) Unless the Holy Spirit works in a person to open their eyes and to give them understanding, they are not going to come to the Lord. Our intercession is vital and essential. The prophet Elisha prayed that God would open his servant’s eyes and he saw that there were more with them than against them. “And Elisha prayed and said, I pray You, Jehovah, open his eyes so that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (2Kings 6:17) We cannot do spiritual work as mere humans. We must be in the supernatural realm of God.

Summarizing, Ephraim could not understand spiritual things and therefore never repented. Coming to God is a work of God, not man. The Lord is the One Who opens eyes, gives understanding and saves through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. There is no other means initiated by man that can save. From beginning to the end, salvation is all the work of God. We merely obey to speak His goodness and greatness. We are His feet and His mouth.